A Toronto bakery with award-winning butter tarts has expanded
The TD Centre is home to a new Circles and Squares location
Though some people would travel to the far reaches of the province (or at least to East York) to sample Ontario’s best butter tarts, others will be thrilled by the proximity of Circles and Squares Bakery’s new location in the Financial District. Churning out all kinds of sweet and savoury delights—including said prize-winning pastries—it’s a delightful, butter-scented addition to the downtown core.
Originally founded as a wholesale bakery in 2005, Circles and Squares has three locations: one in East York, another in Davisville and now this one, tucked away in the TD Centre. It’s a can’t-miss destination for anyone with a sweet tooth, but in particular for butter tart fans—the bakery was named champion in three categories (traditional, wild style, best in show) at last year’s Ontario Butter Tart Festival.
The new location, which opened in March, hawks butter tarts in a range of classic and over-the-top flavours. Diners can also find sourdough bread, sandwiches, made-to-order salads, breakfast items, cookies, scones and cakes, many of which are baked on-site throughout the day.
“We do laminated pastries, so that’s very French. You can’t get away from that,” says owner David Baxter. “But we like the North American style of baking—I want to find things that people have liked forever and then just try to make them better.”
The team is also keen to cater to the food-based mood swings of Toronto diners, offering items as diverse as citrus-poached salmon, mezze salads and caramel-apple-almond croissants. “If you want to eat healthier in the morning, we have an answer for that,” says Baxter. “If you want a brownie in the afternoon, we have that covered as well.”
Related: How two pastry chefs turned a Vaughan industrial unit into a destination for croissants
The bakery’s pantry and freezer sections, meanwhile, are stocked with bagged cookies and house granola, frozen pot pies, lasagnas, and more.
Those who are just in it for the top-ranked tarts will want to add the maple-pecan and coconut-cream varieties to their order. Crowned “best wild style” and “best in show” in 2025, the coconut-cream is one of Baxter’s favourites. “The pastry cream really cuts the sweetness. Coconut is better in a butter tart than people realize. I actually like it more than the classic.”
